Importing from the UK - definitive guide (Q and A)

fm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121974283#Comment_121974283

According to customs agent vin won't do ,it needs to be built less than 3 years ago I think.

RCSATELLITES

Thanks

fm

Beck Evans are who I used and returned vat once I sent them a copy of the Irish vlc.There was no fee from beck Evans.It took about 4 weeks to get the vat returned because of getting a vrt appointment which took 2 weeks and then waiting for the VLC from Shannon.

RCSATELLITES

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971963#Comment_121971963

Can you let me know what the HMRC come back with.

Unfortunately like you said the dealerships don't seem to want to know or don't want the hassle. I had discussions with HMRC before and they said what the certain rules were but the dealership wouldn't follow it and HMRC couldn't enforce it.

Brewster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121975389#Comment_121975389

The 17 digit VIN should indicate the year of manufacture. It also indicates factory of manufacturer, so you should have year of production and location of production in EU. This is case for Volvo anyway.

Brewster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121975408#Comment_121975408

Sure, I’ll see how I go.

fm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121975519#Comment_121975519

Yes but agent said revenue won't accept it as proof only a letter from manufacturer now.

Brewster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121975588#Comment_121975588

Thanks. Ignoring their own guidance on revenue website!! Is it hard to get said letters?

fm

I don't know.

Helpneeded86

I have a deposit paid on a car and now the dealer is sort of panicking. It is a large dealership in the North so I was comfortable that they had done this before and were on top of it. I am also rushing the purchase as need the car quickly. I generally do a lot of research but I failed a little on this.

The car is 182 and originally UK. The dealer said it was perfect for VRT and suitable for the south. He called me today a little less confident. The car was serviced in the North in 2020 which makes me comfortable that this is fine. The problem is I need to be 100% sure that I get what I need to get.

It seems as simple as check the V5 document? Is it possible the dealer does not have this?

Helpneeded86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121976953#Comment_121976953

The ownership record sort of backs this up aswell as we can see all Northern Ireland services withe first in 2020.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121977216#Comment_121977216

V5 date will be February 2023 which will cause problems.

Helpneeded86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121977295#Comment_121977295

Can they be overcome?

Plate change to Northern Ireland is shown on the HPI in 2019.

Jemser2022

hi yea hope this helps once the car was registered

In the ni before 21 and stayed in a Registered Ni owners hands you should me good 👍

dosent mater if it shows new change of owners ship in 2023 once it was that person lived in Northern Ireland and stayed there

Helpneeded86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121986087#Comment_121986087

That makes sense of course. Only thing is it is not clear on the VRT website how I can prove this?

ian123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972039#Comment_121972039

on your description it appears that you paid Beck Evans the UK VAT inclusive price and they refunded you the UK VAT on receipt of a copy of the Irish VLC.

did you pay 23% VAT on top of the UK VAT inclusive price or on the UK VAT exclusive price of the car when you presented the car for registration in Ireland?

Their website is great - but talks a lot about non-EU exports, with very little (that I could find) specifically on EU Exports (ie over to Ireland). probably need to contact them directly.

fm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121995121#Comment_121995121

They issued me 2 invoices,1 including vat and 1 excluding vat that I supplied to revenue.

unkel

Nobody done the VAT / import duty paperwork themselves?

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998185#Comment_121998185

I think only registered customs agents can do customs declarations. Its very complicated anyway and the price of the customs broker is minuscule compared to the price of the car, freight, VAT, VRT etc.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998204#Comment_121998204

I was told that by friends who regularly import cars from the UK and that sounded unconstitutional to me. So I checked. You can do it yourself. I'm just looking into it, only emailed customs a few hours ago and they have already issued me with an EORI. Although they did at first recommend I use a broker, but I insisted on doing it myself. No idea how complex it is. But if there are brokers asking just a few hundred quid for this service, it can't be all that complex, can it? 😂

Car was originally manufactured in the UK, that means no import duty is due, only VAT. Which is a pleasant surprise, I didn't know that. From Revenue website:

I went over to get it myself, so transport cost was only a few hundred and it is over 30 years old so VRT is a fixed €200. Car isn't that valuable so only have a VAT bill here. Trying to keep the cost down here!

RCSATELLITES

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998228#Comment_121998228

Well done! it's great to see someone doing it themselves. And good to know it's possible when it comes around for me to purchase my next car. I remember doing 2 vrt appeals and it wasn't too bad. Let us know how you get on.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998228#Comment_121998228

It only takes my customs broker 10 minutes to do a declaration for me but there are loads of different commodity codes and inputs in to the SAD document. Looks very confusing to me. For the sake of €80 I leave it up to him.

The 0% import duty is great and all but you have to prove to Revenue that it was built in the UK which may require a letter from the manufacturer. Luckily you can still declare it as a collectible item being 30 years old so theres no customs duty regardless.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998415#Comment_121998415

The VIN shows country of manufacturer. There is a 3 digit code for the manufacturer and single digit code for the plant where the car was actually made

unkel

Not quite there yet, but it doesn't look all that difficult to me. Famous last words 😂

I'd say once you have done one of these successfully, the next one would also only take 10 minutes. You are doing this all the time as a business, @User1998. Why pay someone else for it and just add unnecessary waiting time and cost into the process?

Fann Linn

Hi lads, just looking for some advice. My wife has the Primary Medical certificate down here as a passenger. It's almost time now that we start looking around again for a change of car and I was just wondering if the VAT/VRT exemption also applies if we were to purchase a car from NI or through the Motability sites in the north.

I know how the scheme works here just not sure if it's also applicable in NI.

Thanks.

ian123

this might be useful for those looking at VAT Qualifiying imports.

After examining various VAT Qualifying options, and working through some numbers on different vehicles, I noticed that I could multiply the UK VAT inclusive price (in GBP) by x1.3 to get close to the final EUR cost (inc. IE VAT & IE Customs Duty)

For example, a UK £30,000 VAT Qualifying car would cost ~€39,000 (after paying IE VAT & IE Customs Duty and receiving the UK VAT refund).

Obviously, the UK VAT refund would not be refunded immediately, so another multiplier of x1.5 would cover the total outlay while waiting for the refund ( e.g. ~€44,750 on the example UK £30,000 VAT Qualifying car)

these are based on a GBP/EUR FX rate of 1.17, and do NOT include any VRT costs or middle-man costs

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999182#Comment_121999182

Close, but not perfect.

£30,000 (20% VAT) = £25,000
£25,000 x 1.17 = €29,250
€29,250 x 1.353 = €39,575

And you also need to add in freight costs and add the additional import duties on top of that. So the total amount will come to over €40,000

(1.353 is a shortcut for doing 10% customs and 23% VAT btw)

I think if you used a multiplier of 1.33 it would be more accurate? I tested it out on a £10,000 car and its close enough give or take a couple of hundred

nevo1footy

test

nevo1footy

I am buying an all electric vehicle from Northern Ireland and importing to republic. My understanding is no VRT on this car as you get a 5000 euro credit limit but have also read that no VAT or customs excise are due either as car was first registered in Northern Ireland and has been used there since 2021. My question is I am familiar with booking a VRT appointment at an NCT centre but to avail of no VAT etc is there a form to get or another appointment with customs to go to?? and I heard and read about new rules at end of month where no VAT will be. charged.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122010533#Comment_122010533

No you just book the VRT appointment